


Land of the Weird

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: The High School Series [10]
Category: Smallville
Genre: F/M, Fire, Flirting, Gen, Heroic Actions, High School, Kissing, Meteor infected, Oliver is a romantic at heart, secret dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23986054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Chloe and Oliver's date is interrupted by an unexpected meteor rock related event.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: The High School Series [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728691
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

There wasn’t much time left before the bell was due to ring, but it didn’t stop him from taking a detour to the janitor’s closet even as he kept an eye out for Chloe. By his watch, she should be heading in this direction any minute now. And there she was. He reached his hand out, catching her arm and pulling her into the closet with him before shutting the door and leaning against it, grinning at her playfully.

She gasped, her eyes widening and she barely had time to register anything until she was in the closet with him and the door was closed. “Are you insane?” She asked, and even though she was still shocked, a smirk was starting to appear on her lips.

“Depends on who you ask,” he said with a shrug, reaching out and setting her bookbag down on the floor at their feet. Then he wrapped his arms around her, tugging her close and kissing her on the mouth.

She kissed him back instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck as she stepped closer.

“There _is_ a good reason to come to school,” he sighed and leaned his head against hers a few moments later.

Chloe grinned and shook her head. “Would be easier if we weren’t in school anymore, but I guess this will do.”

“Until tonight anyway.” He arched his eyebrows.

“What is tonight?” She asked, cocking her head. They hadn’t seen each other as much since the Luthors got back in town a couple of days ago, and while it was only the first day back to school after the winter break, she was eager to figure out a plan with him so they could hang out without being seen.

“I have a date set up for us. Just inside the woods from Crater Lake. Tonight at 8. Think you can make it?” he asked hopefully, holding onto her hands.

Her heart skipped a beat but she bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from grinning. “I suppose I can make an effort...”

He smiled at her, leaning in and kissing her once more. “Excellent. You won’t be disappointed.”

When the bell rang, Chloe looked up and took a deep breath. “I’ll see you in Bio?”

Nodding, he kissed her one last time, pulling away to let her get the door. “See you soon.”

She squeezed his hand and grinned then ducked her head and quickly stepped out of the closet.

* * *

As promised, Chloe parked just by the edge of the forest a couple of minutes past eight. She was anxious to see him, she had literally been looking forward to this all day. She grinned when she saw his car and, after zipping up her jacket because of the cold, she rushed over to it and knocked on the window on the driver’s side.

He waved at her, and then motioned her away from the car before he climbed out, grinning brightly. “Hey, Beautiful.”

Chloe took a step back and grinned up at him. She never thought she’d be okay with pet names like that, but she definitely didn’t mind it coming from him. “Hey.”

He dipped his head, kissing her cheek lightly, and reaching out to take her hand. “Come on.” He led her toward the edge of the woods.

She took his hand and started toward the woods with him, arching her eyebrows. “Are you sure you wanna go in there?” She asked, holding her breath.

“It’s not far. I have a surprise,” he admitted. He glanced at her sideways as they walked. “Are you scared?” His voice wasn’t teasing, just quiet.

“I’m not scared,” she said quickly, straightening and shrugging. “But there is a large concentration of meteor rocks in this area, I don’t know how safe it is. I mean, I’ve met a guy who was infected just by falling into the lake.”

He pursed his lips. “The rocks are bright green, right?”

“Usually,” she said. “I don’t know, but I have the impression that they kinda glow, sometimes?”

“Well, I didn’t see any green or glowing rocks when I was setting things up. But if you see any and you want to leave, we can just go sit in one of our cars,” he assured her.

“Setting things up?” She asked curiously. “I’ll look around when we are there, but hopefully we will be okay. Now what did you set up?”

“It’s a surprise,” he told her, amusement tugging his lips upward.

Chloe tugged on his hand and pulled him toward the forest. “Show me.”

He chuckled. “Now you’re just being impatient,” he teased, squeezing her hand and leading her into the woods a little farther. He pulled her over to where he’d set up an area for a campfire. A few things were set around, including a large bag of marshmallows, and a canteen of something.

Chloe held her breath when she saw the set up and turned to grin at him. “Please tell me you brought crackers and chocolate too?”

“It’s entirely possible.”

She stepped closer to him and kissed him softly. “Maybe the sneaking around thing will work out really well.”

“Because I’ll be feeding you junk food?” he teased.

“Because you are going through all this effort just so you can see me,” she told him, her face bright.

“Well. I think you’re worth it,” he said softly, stepping closer to her. He lifted a hand to her cheek.

She leaned into his touch and smiled, shrugging a little.

He kissed her softly, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Come on. I’ll build a fire.”

“I’ll look around,” she told him, pulling her phone from her pocket and using it as a flashlight.

He nodded, moving over to where he’d already gathered a great deal of firewood. He began to build it up for their fire, glancing over to make sure she was still there.

She focused on looking around for a long moment, kicking rocks here and there to make sure they weren’t meteor ones. When she was satisfied and she could feel the warmth from the fire already spreading through the area, she turned back to face him and grinned. She couldn’t seem to stop grinning since Christmas, actually. “I think we’re good.”

“Oh, good.” He smiled, poking at the fire with a long branch. “Come over here and help me get warm,” he teased.

“How? By helping you get in the fire?” She teased back, stepping closer and arching her eyebrows at him.

“Not really what I had in mind.” He smirked, holding his hand out toward her.

Chloe held her breath and took his hand, walking up to him and holding his gaze.

Oliver smiled as he gently tugged her over to sit down beside him. “You look amazing. As always.” He pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“You’re such a flirt,” she teased, not sure what else to tell him as she sat right next to him.

“Only with my girlfriend.” He arched his eyebrows, winding his arm around her shoulders.

Chloe chewed on her bottom lip at that and held her breath. “Girlfriend?”

He hesitated for a moment, not sure why she echoed the word. “Yeah? Aren’t you?” he asked uncertainly.

Her face felt warm and she looked down then shrugged before looking back at him, her eyes bright. “I didn’t know.”

He smiled at her, dipping his head and kissing her softly.

Chloe held her breath and kissed him back as she shifted closer to him, her heart beating fast against her chest. She’d never been anyone’s girlfriend before, she’d never had someone _want_ to be her boyfriend.

“Okay, so.” He pulled away after a moment and looked down at the supplies he’d brought. “S’mores first, or hot chocolate?”

“I have to choose?” She asked, grinning softly at him.

“Only if you want me to pour you a glass first or if you want me to roast a s’more first,” he teased, nudging her lightly.

“I can help you, you know?” She said, looking up at him. “I think hot chocolate first, though.”

“Okay, well I was trying to be romantic here,” he said lightly, winking at her.

“Oh,” she said, surprised. “Well, this is by far the most romantic thing I’ve ever done, so I think you filled that quota for the night, you can relax now.”

He cocked his head to look at her. “There’s no quota on romance,” he told her, reaching out and picking up the canteen.

“I never thought you’d care about something like that,” she told him sincerely, watching him closely.

“Well, it’s important,” he told her, pouring her a glass of hot chocolate and holding it out to her.

She took the glass carefully, wrapping both hands around the warm glass and arched her eyebrows. “Is it?”

“Yeah. Don’t you think so?” He frowned a little.

“I don’t know,” she said sincerely. “I never thought much about it.”

Oliver pursed his lips, studying her. “Well, I have a feeling you’ll be thinking about it a lot more now,” he said lightly.

“I’ll try,” she said, chewing on the inside of her mouth. “If it’s a big deal for you,” she teased.

“It’s important for you, too,” he told her, pouring himself a glass of hot chocolate next. He took a long drink, leaning against her side.

“Is it?” She asked, frowning a little. “I mean, this is nice but I would have been okay with sitting in one of our cars.”

He smiled at that, wrapping his arm around her once more and taking another drink. “Romance is part of how you show a person how you feel about them.”

“Not if it’s forced,” she pointed out, leaning against his side. “I mean, not if it’s expected of you, you know?”

“Were you expecting it?” he asked, arching his eyebrows.

“No, but you could have thought I was expecting it,” she said, sipping on her chocolate.

He chuckled. “Well, I didn’t think that.”

“Then it’s okay.” She smiled up at him. “I don’t know I just don’t want to be like--” she hesitated. “One of those girls.”

Oliver’s expression softened at that, and he shook his head. “Chloe Sullivan, you’re not like those girls at all, and that’s a great thing.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

She grinned at that and arched her eyebrows. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

He smiled, too and then set his cup down, reaching for the marshmallow bag and pausing when there was a flash of bright light in the distance. “Did you see that?”

Chloe was already standing up, her eyes wide. “Yes, it must have been close to the town.”

He stood up, too, frowning deeply. “What do you think it was?”

“Considering the completely lack of clouds in the sky, it wasn’t lightning.” She looked at him and arched her eyebrows. “Let’s go find out.”

* * *

The entire town seemed to be in the dark, whatever that thing had been seemed to have caused a serious power surge. “At least I don’t see a fire anywhere,” she told Oliver as she drove them through the streets carefully. “Keep an eye out, though. This smells like Wall of Weird material to me.”

“Maybe it was just a blown transformer,” he suggested, arching his eyebrows when she said Wall of Weird.

“A blown transformer doesn’t shoot up sparks in the sky like fireworks,” she told him, giving him a look.

“It might if it was caused by an accident or something,” he pointed out.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked over at him. “I’m willing to keep an open mind if you are,” she said as she took a right, frowning a little when she saw a faint glow down the street. “Is that fire?”

“Deal,” he agreed, nodding and then looking ahead when she asked her question. He squinted. “Looks like.”

“That’s almost at the complex,” she told him, holding her breath as she drove toward the townhouse complex where she lived, but not speeding up considering all she had were her headlights.

He reached out wordlessly, resting his hand on her arm, though he sat up a little straighter in the seat and leaned forward.

She glanced at the hand on her arm and smiled a little before straightening too and driving up to the house that was on fire, well, its shed was on fire anyway. “I’ll call 911,” she told Oliver, parking the car and reaching for her phone in her purse.

Oliver nodded, reaching for the door handle. “This is Scott’s house,” he murmured before climbing out of the car.

Her eyes widened and she looked at Oliver at that. “It is?” She knew Scott just from passing, mostly and from a few emails they had exchanged when she was trying to dig up information on Oliver playing defender of the bullied at school. Without waiting for a reply, she got out too and made the call for 911 quickly.

He made his way quickly toward the shed, that was already burning quickly. “Hello?” he called as he approached the half-open door. “Is anyone in there?”

No one answered at first, but a second later, there was a weak cough from inside.

Oliver’s eyes widened in horror and he turned back toward Chloe. “Tell them to hurry!” he shouted. And then, shielding his face with his arm, he yanked the door the rest of the way open and leaped inside.

Chloe had ducked back in the car to get her camera when she heard Oliver, turning back to look at him just in time to see him disappear into the burning shed. “Oliver!” She called, rushing across the street.

Several long moments passed, and then finally, he emerged once more, carrying Scott and coughing from the smoke, his coat on fire. He set the younger man on the ground and shed his coat quickly, wincing.

Even though her eyes were wide and she had been calling for Oliver, she didn’t hesitate before taking a few pictures of him carrying Scott outside. “Is he okay?” She asked, glancing from Oliver to the freshman who was coughing heavily.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, coughing, too and kneeling down beside the other boy. He couldn’t see any burn marks, but the violent way he was coughing couldn’t be good.

Chloe held her breath and glanced over her shoulder when she heard the sirens. “There they are,” she said, looking at Oliver then kneeling on the floor next to Scott. “Are your parents inside? Just nod if you can.”

Scott shook his head a little, coughing again and shutting his eyes.

“You’ll be okay,” she assured him, her eyes wide as she looked up at Oliver, unsure of what else to say.

His eyes were wide, too, and he waved to the fireman who had pulled up to the curb with their fire truck. He was glad to see that an ambulance was right behind them.

“He was in the shed,” Chloe informed the men as they approached them, standing up.

“We’ll take care of him, please back away,” one of the men told her as they surrounded Scott.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Oliver asked as they pushed him back out of the way.

But they didn’t answer. The paramedic joined the firemen a moment later and Chloe pulled her camera up for a couple more pictures before turning to Oliver. “Maybe they should look at you, too.”

He shook his head a little, watching them work on Scott, load him onto a backboard, and carry him toward the ambulance. “I’m okay,” he murmured.

Chloe took a deep breath and watched them take Scott away too before looking over at Oliver again. “I can’t believe you just ran in there like that.”

Oliver turned his head to look at her, too. “I didn’t even think about it,” he admitted quietly.

She watched him for a second then nodded a little. “Maybe we should leave. I’ll come back in a while, after they leave to see what I can find in the shed.”

“We’ll come back,” he corrected her, coughing into his shirt sleeve.

After considering him for a moment, she nodded. “Let’s go find you some water, at least.”

“All right. No arguments there.” He looked in the direction of the ambulance that was pulling away and held his breath.


	2. Chapter 2

Since classes started back up, lunch had been frustrating. Even as Chloe watched Oliver sitting in a table toward the back of the cafeteria, she had to force herself to make her way over to where Clark and Lex were. 

“Hey,” she greeted, smiling at them and as soon as her tray was down, she reached for her phone. Texting was pretty much the only way she and Oliver could talk to each other at school. When he wasn’t pulling her into janitor closets that was.

“Hey, Chlo,” Clark greeted with a smile. 

Lex nodded at her. 

She had positioned herself just right so she could see Oliver over Lex’s shoulder, but she wasn’t sure that was a great idea, considering the last person she wanted to notice something was Lex himself. “What is going on today?”

“Nothing. It’s Smallville,” Lex said, shrugging. 

At the next table, Oliver met Chloe’s eyes for a brief moment and smiled a little before ducking his head and looking down at his cell phone.

She had to bite the inside of her mouth to stop from smiling back. “Missing Metropolis already?” She asked Lex, but turned her attention back on her phone.

“Always,” he confirmed, taking a bite of his salad.

 _If they ask, I’m calling you Lois._ Chloe texted Oliver before sipping on her soda.

Oliver smirked at her text. _I’m way hotter than Lois._

“I haven’t seen you at the Talon?” Clark asked, watching Chloe. 

“I guess we missed each other?” She tried, smiling at him. “Can’t live without my caffeine fix.” _I will never tell her you said that even before you ever met her. She’d hate you forever and she’d want me to never see you again._

“Now if she wasn’t showing up at school regularly, we’d have assumed your blood to caffeine level returned to that of normal humans,” Lex said with a smirk.

 _Can’t have that. Plus no reason to hurt her feelings over something she can’t change._ Oliver grinned a little.

“And what would be the fun in being a normal human, Lex?” She asked, smirking and focusing on her phone again, her smirk widening when she saw the text. _You’re so mean_. 

Clark stared at Chloe for a moment and shifted uncomfortably. 

“Who wants the responsibility of _not_ being a normal human?” Lex asked, arching his eyebrows. “Or the problems it would cause?” 

_I know. I’m good at it, though._

Chloe frowned a little at Lex and shrugged. “Being a meteor freak would suck, but you know being a human with actual powers like superheroes would be fun, don’t you think, Clark?” 

“I-- don’t know. I think it’d cause problems, like Lex said,” he muttered, looking down. 

She rolled her eyes and glanced at Oliver before texting him back. _Wish you could come save me with your meanness._

Oliver grinned down at his phone, glancing over at her and winking. _How about after sixth period? Just you, me and the janitor’s closet._

 _I have missed that mop._ She teased, glancing at him then focusing on Lex again to pretend she wasn’t looking at Oliver. “You have brainwashed him.”

“Just common sense,” Lex told her with a shrug, narrowing his eyes a little and looking at her phone. 

Chloe frowned and flipped her phone closed when she noticed him staring at it. “And I thought I was the reporter.” She wanted to look at Oliver, to try and silently ask him not to text her, but she didn’t dare to. 

He arched an eyebrow. “Apparently you rub off on the best of us,” he responded.

“Apparently,” she said, eyes narrowing a little at him. Since she found out he had lied about the Torch, she hadn’t had much patience for him, but she couldn’t say anything because Lex was the last person who could know about her and Oliver. 

When Lex focused on his salad again, she glanced at Oliver and shook her head slightly before looking down at her tray.

Disappointment flickered across Oliver’s face, but he caught sight of another familiar figure stepping into the cafeteria and he sat up a little more, waving at the boy and motioning him to the table. 

Chloe saw the wave out of the corner of her eye and turned to look in the opposite direction, her eyes widening a little. “It’s Scott,” she muttered without thinking twice about it. She had published the story on Oliver rescuing him, not in the Torch, but in the Ledger, so everyone knew they were both around that night. Besides, it was only about a block away from her house. 

Scott lowered his head and hesitated before walking over toward Oliver’s table.

Lex turned to look at the other boy, studying him for a moment. “He doesn’t look too good.” 

“No,” Chloe agreed in a whisper, not missing the fact that he wasn’t carrying a tray. She looked over at Oliver when Scott sat down with his back to her and frowned a little. 

“Was he hurt?” Clark asked. 

Chloe paused and turned to Clark, eyes narrowing. “Do you _ever_ read any of my articles?”

“When I’m not doing chores or homework,” Clark said, defensive.

“Right,” she muttered, turning her attention back on Scott and Oliver. 

“How are you doing?” Oliver asked when Scott sat down across from him. He frowned a little as he noticed how pale the other boy was. There were dark circles under his eyes, too.

“Fine,” Scott muttered, looking down at the table, his body shaking slightly.

He didn’t look fine, at all, in Oliver’s opinion. “I wasn’t sure you’d be back to school this soon,” he admitted, sliding his tray across the table. “Want some fries?” 

He shook his head and looked over at Oliver. “They said you pulled me out.”

Oliver offered him a faint smile. “I was out for a walk,” he said, shrugging.

Scott shuddered and stood up, eyes narrowing. “Why did you bother?”

The smile faded away and he stared up at Scott, confused. “Because you’re my friend and I didn’t want you to die,” he said, shaking his head.

“Would have been better if I had.” He closed his hands into fists then quickly hid them behind his back. 

“What? Of course it wouldn’t have been,” he said, truly shocked.

From where she was sitting, Chloe saw what she was pretty sure was a spark of electricity running through Scott’s hands as he hid them behind his back. She stared at them closely, her eyes widening when she saw it again just as he stepped closer to Oliver. Without thinking twice, she stood up and walked up to them quickly. “Scott! Good to see you back already.”

Oliver blinked a couple of times when Chloe interrupted them, eyebrows raising, though he fell silent. 

“Sure,” Scott mumbled, turning and heading away from them, toward the exit.

“Meet me at the closet. Now.” Chloe whispered to Oliver the second Scott left before walking back to her seat. She put on the best frown she could and shook her head. “I guess he’s not up to being interviewed yet,” she said as she sat back down.

Lex shrugged, glancing at Clark and then back at Chloe. “I’m sure you’ll get your interview eventually. Guy has a crush on you.” 

Chloe paused at that and frowned hard at Lex, her heart skipping a beat. Surely he didn’t mean Oliver? “What?”

Lex frowned, too. “Scott?” 

“Oh, he does?” She asked, doing her best not to show how relieved she was with his answer.

“You should talk to him, Chloe,” Clark encouraged with a smile.

Lex rolled his eyes at that. “Please. She’s way better than Scott.” 

“He’s a freshman, Clark.” Chloe had expected something like that from Clark, but was genuinely surprised by Lex’s words. “Thanks.”

Oliver made his way out of the cafeteria, heading toward the janitor’s closet down the hallway. He wasn’t sure what it was he’d missed--either with Scott or with Chloe, but he felt more than a little confused. 

A few moments later, the door opened and she snuck inside, her eyes a little wide as she took a deep breath. “I think he was going to hurt you,” she whispered almost instantly.

“He definitely looked like he wanted to hit me,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s not happy I saved him.” 

“No, Oliver. I think he’s infected,” she said urgently, reaching for his arm.

He blinked a couple of times. “Why do you say that?” 

“His hands were sparkling, like they were conducting electricity,” she explained. “He was hiding them behind his back and when he came closer to you, it got stronger.”

Oliver’s eyes widened at that. “You really think he was going to do something to me?” 

“I rather not risk it,” she said, a worried look on her face. “People who get infected, they don’t always have full control over what they are doing, we need to stop him before he hurts someone.”

He pursed his lips, looking worried, too, but for another reason. “I’m afraid he might do something to hurt himself,” he told her.

“What makes you say that?” She asked, frowning.

“Just what he said. That he would’ve been better off dead.” He chewed the inside of his cheek. 

Chloe chewed on her bottom lip. “Stay here, keep an eye on him as much as you can. I’ll sneak out and see if I can find anything at his house and at the shed we might have missed that night and we’ll keep each other updated through text.”

“All right. Be careful,” he said worriedly, stepping forward and pressing a kiss to her mouth.

She kissed him deeply and nodded a little, holding his gaze for a moment before rushing out of the closet.

He watched her go, then sighed softly, rubbing his hands over his face before stepping out into the hallway. It was going to be a long day.

* * * 

By the time Chloe had made sure no one was home, had broken into what was left of the shed and had dug around enough to find meteor rock residue inside Scott’s computer tower, classes had been over with and Oliver was following Scott home. 

She hid behind the bushes and waited for him to go inside before walking over to Oliver’s car where he had parked nearly a block away, as planned, and getting in as quickly as possible. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Short of just going to the front door and trying to talk to him.” 

“Well, this might be our best plan,” she said sincerely. “I mean, you helped him before and, according to Les, he has a crush on me. We might be able to get through to him.”

“Here’s hoping, because I don’t have a Plan B,” he confessed. 

Chloe reached over for his hand and squeezed it. “I guess we will see what we can do. I mean most people infected go crazy, but not all of them. My mechanic, I’m pretty sure he’s infected, I saw him reaching for something under a car once and his arm stretched out all the way to the other side. He’s nice and he seems okay.”

“Well, here’s hoping,” he said quietly, squeezing her hand in return and looking toward Scott’s house.

“Let’s go,” she told him before letting go of his hand and climbing out of the car.

Oliver did the same, taking in a deep breath and glancing at her as they walked toward his front door. Once there, he arched his eyebrows, then knocked on the door loudly.

Chloe chewed on her bottom lip and kept an eye on the street to make sure they weren’t being seen. 

Scott opened the door a second later and frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“We came to talk to you because we’re worried about you,” Oliver said sincerely. 

“I’m fine,” he said sharply, starting to close the door. 

Chloe stepped forward and stopped him. “You’ve read my articles, Scott. We know something happened to you the other night, we can help.” Or at least, she hoped they could.

“We don’t want anything to happen to you,” he added, frowning deeply as he gazed at Scott.

“Please,” Chloe pressed, staring at him. 

Scott hesitated then stepped aside and made room for them to come in.

Oliver glanced sideways as Chloe before stepping into the house and taking a deep breath. He pursed his lips, glancing around and not seeing signs that anyone else was home. 

Chloe held his gaze for a moment then followed Scott into the living room. “How are you feeling?” She asked worriedly. 

He shrugged a little. “I don’t sleep much.” 

“Since this happened?” She frowned. “Were you at the hospital all this time?”

“No. I’ve been here. Trying to get rid of it,” he admitted, looking away.

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek, and letting Chloe take the lead since she was the one who’d dealt with this kind of thing before.

“You can do something energy related, can’t you?” She asked quietly, watching him closely. 

Scott shifted nervously, eying her again and sighing. He lifted his hands and electricity sparked between them, back and forth, like a tiny lightning bolt.

Her eyes widened as she took a step back. “Woah,” she muttered, focusing on him but not being able to stop herself from glancing at Oliver to see his reaction. This was the first time he was seeing something like this, after all.

His eyes were wide, too. Much wider than hers. But still, he remained silent. 

“Yeah,” Scott said miserably, moving to sit down on the sofa.

“What are you feeling?” Chloe asked, walking over toward him but not sitting down. “Did you not sleep because you were worried or because it’s keeping you awake?”

“It’s just a matter of time before I go crazy,” he told her, not looking up at her. “You know that.” 

Her chest tightened with guilt and she sat down next to him. “We might be able to figure something out. Most people go crazy because they can’t handle what is happening. You knew about this kind of thing before, you’re not going crazy over this being impossible. We just need to figure out how to help you control it.”

“What if I can’t?” Scott shook his head, looking at her sideways. “What then?” 

“Then we will find you a doctor, a scientist, someone who might be able to help.” She glanced at Oliver, mostly because she didn’t know what else to say. “He has lots of money, he can help us find you the best,” she added, even if she had no clue if Oliver could really do that, especially considering his allowance. 

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I can try,” he said quietly. 

Chloe smiled a little at Oliver gratefully then turned back to Scott. “What do you say we give it a try?”

“I don’t want to go crazy. And I don’t want to hurt anyone,” he admitted, looking between the two of them. “So whatever it is you’re thinking, I’ll try it.” 

She nodded a little and smiled at him at that. “We will go slow, we will figure it out and we will make sure you don’t hurt anyone, including yourself.”

Scott looked down, nodding. “Okay.” 

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Oliver said quietly.

“You’re not on your own,” Chloe added, hesitating then reaching over and placing a hand on his shoulder, relieved when it didn’t shock her. “You can have both our numbers and call us anytime you need. I will do a lot of research on this and see what I can find out and we will keep this amongst ourselves, how does that sound for a start?”

Scott smiled, but it was faint. He nodded, looking between them again. “Yeah. That sounds good.” 

Oliver nodded, too, relaxing a little and smiling at Chloe. Maybe they’d just made a real difference in Scott’s life. He hoped so.


End file.
